Heather Colwell / Majestic Morphs

That's good to hear he is improving! It's hard to say whether a vet would be helpful or harmful in this case, since he is getting better with rest.

Honestly, my best guess is the snake had some underlying neurological problem that the stress of shipping (and whatever caused that gash) uncovered. Perhaps similar to how spiders wobble? I don't know, I'm not into the ball pythons. I did have 5 kenyan sand boas that had a congenital issue (reportedly caused by their mom not having access to proper temps while gravid) where they would loop around and generally behave in a bizarre fashion, especially when stressed. They mostly grew out of it, but the first day I brought them home they looked terrible! Lying on their backs and things like that!

However, I bought those snakes with full disclosure and the three worst were thrown in free. IMHO she should give some kind of recompense for the snake, although it's hard to say what since she (and most people) don't exactly spell out what her guarantee is good for. I know what I would do but it doesn't seem to be industry standard to 100% refund an unhealthy animal and consider it lucky someone wanted to give it a good home instead of returning it for me to try to deal with the care and vet bills :P

The morning after Steve received the babies I received an email from him stating he needed advice on an urgent situation. I called him to talk and he explained the condition of the pewter to me and sent the pictures to me by email. When I look at the pictures imo it does look like a bite trauma. The tub theory sounds plausible.. but i agree that with those tubs, the top of the head if anything is what would get injured if he got his head stuck. The tubs have a rounded lip on them. So that gash just doesnt make sense to me from that. I think some of what were seeing in the pics is swelling. Making the gash look a bit different then when it first occured. I watched the video as well, the twitching and almost seizure like behavior i had no answers for. I did give Steve Multiple reason of why something like that would occur, Illness, overheat, genetic issue, head trauma.
I do know that #1 it wasnt normal behavior even for a stressed animal.
My personal feeling as a buyer and seller of animals is this, if someone has an issue with an animal I have sent out I give immediate responses. I certainly dont blame the buyer. Id try to IMMEDIATELY figure out what is going on with that animal, and immediatly rectify the situation. While I agree with the fact shipping cost are what they are, I certainly wouldnt absorb those, but I would have tried to figure out as soon as possible a partial refund to the buyer for the condition if the buyer wanted to keep him.
Which it sounds like from the emails they were working on this I saw that Healther offered to return 75.00. Steve wanted 100-125.00 Really is that 25-50.00 worth all of this?
If you were willing to give him $75.00 back for an animal that arrived less then perfect why was 100 or even 125.00 so unreasonable?

These twitches could be a high stress response that have been with the animal from hatching. They may have just gone unnoticed until a seriously stressful event occured, Will we ever know? No.

They could be this, they could be that.... problem is Is we wont know. What we do know is that the animal apparently has an issue of some sort. Either stress or heat or whatever related its not perfect,. When I pay for animal I expect perfect unless I am told otherwise. Especially since in the future this was a planned breeder.

The lack of communication in my eyes is just unacceptable, I understand what Its like to be busy but this should have been top priority.

I hope you guys can come to a solution asap and both get some closure.



Thanks,
Morgan Weiss

But you can't be sure that the snake arrived that way. The damage wasn't seen until the next day. It's too bad the OP didn't give the snake a good look over once it arrived.

Just to clatify the damage was seen the same day. Only at a later time.

I will say that is true.

Maybe I should clarify my first post by morning after I mean 9-22-11 at 11:43 am i received the email. From what I understand the snakes were received at 2am ish.

This transaction was handled incredibly poorly by both parties IMO.
The seller accusing him of smashing its head in the tub would have been a customer service NO NO in normal circumstances. But after such a long travel time it makes it even more insulting.
But if you put yourself in her shoes,(and try to pretend the above didn't happen) and ask for a video with a time stamp and get the answer he gave.....you start smelling something fishy and evasive... all of a sudden the snake is better when I ask for a video...hmmm
Not that I doubt one word of the story...but put yourself in the sellers shoes.

Now with all that out of the way, if its eating and not shaking anymore then I think the odds of it being a future breeder are bright. The $75 would be ok $100 better and I hope he has a long happy life.

She offered to refund you in full and pay the return shipping if you were not happy with the snake. If you aren't happy return the animal for a full refund and move on.

Jeff,

Understand that Heather asked for a current video SPECIFICALLY to go after the Shipper, and not for herself. She made that perfectly clear in her e-mail.

It was only after I told her a current video would be of no use to the shipper (and that it would be better if she sent them the video taken the same day he arrived), that she pretty much demanded a video from me.

To me that is what "smells fishy and evasive", as you put it.

Heather never bothered to ask me about the health status of the pewter during this entire time, and it was only after I mentioned to her that she never asked, did she finally ask. At that time I immeately replied and gave her a status on the pewter. Funny thing too, she finally asks "how he is doing" in the same sentence she is wanting the video to go after the shipper. (sugar coating).

Heather being the business person she is, chose to to stick to the "numbers" only, and that is what I did. At any given time, had she simply asked me "how is the pewter doing?", I would have gladly responded.

In addition, Heather never did get back with her investigation with "her colleages" on the pewters injury and temours as promised. I believe she just didn't care. The only research she did that I am aware of was to cover herself the best she could on shipping, and "her guarantee". And that was by giving me false information on another breeders policy to support herself. And that smells fishy and evasive.

Yes, the $75 would be OK and the $100 better, but do you really think I will see any of it? As soon as she knew I was planning to keep the pewter, and not send it back she recended her $100 compensation, not before. Fishy and evasive.

Originally Posted by KelliH

She offered to refund you in full and pay the return shipping if you were not happy with the snake. If you aren't happy return the animal for a full refund and move on.

Agreed...you have to take what has been offered or let it go at this point.

To me, it doesn't appear to be a bite mark at all, but as Diem said earlier, a skin wound. It also appears to be rather fresh in the pictures. I really have no thoughts on what caused the wound, but for those who think that if it happened while the snake was trying to escape its tub that the injury would be on top of its head, I don't agree. A ball python, or a lot of snakes for that matter, if absolutely set on escaping its enclosure will try to do so any way possible...sideways, upside down, etc... So it's entirely possible that it could have caught its chin under a flimsy lid rather than on the lip of the tub. If you watch them long enough, you'll see snakes attempt escape at seeming impossibly awkward angles.